(1) Field of Invention
This disclosure relates to keeping oil drippings from from garage floors with a spreadable mat, keeping oil stained mats from contaminating surrounding areas, and separating these mats from other trash materials.
In addition, this disclosure field encompasses keeping other environmentally undesirable drippings from workplace floors. These drippings include those found in food preparation locations, chemical process plants, and other refining type operations.
(2) Prior Art
Prior art in respect to removing oil drippings in automotive areas has consisted of the following elements.
(a) Washing, usually with steam or soap and water.
(b) Distributing loose oil absorbent material in areas of oil contamination, and sweeping up the loose material.
(c) Placing striped down cardboard boxes and other scrap materials mats under automotive vehicles. The soiled mats removal is left to the user's decision.
(d) Placing drip pans under automotive equipment. Disposal requires pouring out liquid oil from the pan into a disposal receptacle and cleaning the pan afterwards. This is a procedure of some awkwardness and possible respillage of the oil is a problem when handling a filled pan.
In this disclosure mats will be defined as being spreadable like a carpet. Oil pans will be defined as having a recognizable container configuration (i.e five rigid or semirigid sides), and are placed on the floor in one piece similar to the way a bucket would be placed on the floor. Also, in this disclosure the term `disposable` shall be defined to include all elements of a mat or oil pan and to mean that all elements of the oil mat or oil pan system are removable as a single package and insertable into a standard domestic type garbage can.
The final three options have been combined a number of ways in prior inventions. A notable example is the invention of Fitzpatrick (1964 U.S. Pat. No. 3,141,522) which consists of a pan with a lowerable side in which a sack of oil absorbent material is placed. The pan material is apparently porous in that a sealant material is placed on the bottom side. No mention is made in reference to abrasion resistant material, although it would be necessary to slide the pan over the garage floor if it were to be placed under standing automotive equipment.
The patent of Fitzpatrick also describes the sack of absorbent material as `disposable`. No mention is made of the steps required to obtain an environmentally sound disposal of this sack. If the pan and sack are to be disposed then no provision is made to keep the pan and the sack, either seperately or together, from soiling external areas or materials.
Fitzpatrick's invention also appears quit fragile. Impact with the wheels of a slow moving automobile would likely rupture it, and spill the clay absorbent over a garage floor. This fragility makes Fitzpatrick's invention unsuitable for domestic garages where automotive equipment is frequently moved. This could necessitate Fitzpatrick's oil pan being reinserted under automotive equipment every time said automotive equipment is moved.
Finally, the invention as depicted by Fitzpatrick only provides dripping protection for the engine area of an automobile. No protection is offered to the differential area, or to areas containing hydraulic lines. These areas also can produce floor fouling petroleum drippings.
Howe (1974 U.S. Pat. No. 3,834,527) presents another variation of the drip pan technique. Here the drip pan is pleated and compressed prior to deployment. As shown, the pan is partially unfolded during deployment. Absorbent material is incorporated on the edge of the pan to keep oil drippings from spilling out. Again the pan as shown does not appear to be sufficiently crush resistant to be used in domestic automotive garages.
This folded pan is not designed to be refolded to permit removal and disposal. The design of the gussets appear to be designed to place tension on the top and bottom of each pleat during unfolding. This tension locks the pleats in place so that the pan will not creep back to it's stored position. This tension lock also mitigates against refolding after use.
Meschi (1984 U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,814) presents folding as a means of storing paper data tapes, and Kendall (1974 U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,223) depicts a sealing film to protect packaged lumber from moisture intrusion.
Other variants of oil drip containment inventions include peelable mats (Clapper U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,147), filled drip pans (Stack 1973 U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,626; Prentice 1966 U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,273; Oganovic 1962 U.S. Pat. No. 3,062,323; and Hughes 1914 U.S. Pat. No. 1,094,210), pure drip pans (Stark 1950 U.S. Pat. No. 2,497,565; Cagnino 1918 U.S. Pat. No. 1,261,358; and Ellis et. al.; 1986 U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,977) and a cardboard mat with holes to facilitate oil absorption, and cardboard footpads to raise the mat off of the garage floor (Gatsos 1966 U.S. Pat. No. 3,228,491). Many of the foregoing inventions addressed the problems of oil absorbence and protection of garage floor from oil seepage. The invention of Gatsos even had a single fold to facilitate storage prior to deployment of his mat. However, none of the foregoing inventions addressed the problem of disposing of oil soaked and stained materials after use.
Meyers's invention (1978 U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,398) is a sealed container to receive used liquid oil. It contains a bladder, an entrance mouth, and a cap for the mouth once the bladder is filled. Since the present disclosure relates to inserting solid wastes into a sealed container, the method of waste insertion differs, and the requirement for for sealing also differs.
Therefore, prior art's inattention to environmentally sound waste management has led to the following deficiencies, viz:
(1) Unspecified waste receptacle, and no means of handling and/or repackaging mats after use. None of the foregoing inventions separately or together implies an oil soaked folded mat which is to be reinserted into a package lined to prevent fouling the external environment, and the entire kit sized to fit into a standard sized domestic trash can. Numerous patents exist which protect the contents of packages form oxygen and other outside contaminants. None of them addressed the problem of keeping oily materials within a package and protecting the outside environment. This difference requires that liners be non oil degradable and abrasion resistant rather than air tight, and also requires that markedly different materials, and package designs be utilized in the package disclosed in this disclosure.
(2) Insufficient specification of the mat undersealer. Oil impermiability was called out in a number of the foregoing patents. Oil non degradibility, abrasion resistance, and sufficient flexibility to permit folding before and after use as a drip mat was not specified. The materials suggested by Fitzgerald are mostly unsuitable for oil laden environments indicating that this factor was not considered in the preparation of his claim. The brief description by Howe of a pleated paper/aluminum foil inverted pan ignores this consideration entirely. Presumably the aluminum foil/paper composite would be bound together by an organic adhesive. The properties of this adhesive would be critical to the practicality of Howe's suggestion. Aluminum is not an abrasion resistant material.
(3) Inadequate absorptive material specification and/or design for proper disposal. With one exception, all called for organic, and fibrous materials. The exception was Fitzpatrick, who specified a clay material in a sack. However, nowhere in the previous art is a mineral absorbent design presented consistent with a compact storage prior to and after use or incorporation into the mat device in such a way as to increase the mat's crush resistance. The fact that waste storage is not called out in Fitzgerald's patent raises questions regarding tearing of, and spillage from sacks of oil soaked absorbents prior to or after `disposal`. Although Fitzgerald describes his patent as suitable for disposal, it does not appear suitable for insertion into a standard domestic type garbage can.
(4) With the exception of the peelable mat of Clapper, all of the foregoing non metallic pans and mats could be disabled by crushing if overrun by automotive equipment.